MPD problems

[spaceship.rodeo]

I've asked about this thing twice already in previous threads, and maybe making a new one will be able to work, eh? Anywho, I recently found out about MPD and Sonata, and would very much like to use them (using Amarok at the moment, but am looking for something a little more low profile, if you know what I mean). Anywho! I tried to set up MPD using this (http://ohioloco.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=320469) guide, and when I type in

sudo mpd --create-db
it's giving me this error:

problems opening file –create-db for reading: No such file or directory

But that's not all! Now, when I try to use that command (or anything else with mpd for that matter), it spits this back out at me:

config parameter "music_directory" is first defined on line 7 and redefined on line 12
So I go into my mpd.conf file, and both lines are pointing to the same directory. Is it giving me this because I have the same line twice? Is the first error because I need to create the database in the link to my music folder, as opposed to the mpd music directory? Because I haven't been able to really find anything that can answer these questions, and any help is greatly appreciated.

[newb1e]

You need to point mpd to your music folder:
/etc/mpd.conf-->The setting is here, or to do thing more neatly, create a link to your music folder

sudo ln -s /your/music/folder /usr/share/mpd/music

then you can create database

[spaceship.rodeo]

Welp, I've got the link to my music folder in /var/lib/mpd/music, I don't have a /usr/share/mpd directory. What I was asking is if I need to cd to the linked directory, or if I can make it in /var/lib/mpd/music.


edit
Nevermind, I fixed it. I just had to change my mpd.conf so that everything was right. Thanks anyway Newb1e.

[spaceship.rodeo]

delete pls

[spaceship.rodeo]

Crosspostin' this.


Though it's about Sonata this time.

Okay, so I got mpd working how it should so far. But now when I try to play the music in Sonata, it won't play. Everything will show up nice and fine, but as soon as I hit 'play,' nothing happens. Well, it'll try to play the file, but then it will just stop again.

aw damn I just noticed I triple-posted. My bad.

[spaceship.rodeo]

Bumping this because I'd really like to get it fixed. I've asked this question like four times at different places and still haven't gotten any response at all. So come on guys, I know someone must be able to help me.

[kaiju]

if the "music_directory" entry in your /etc/mpd.conf is pointing to a directory actually containing audio files (either by specifying your music directory in the conf file or by placing symlinks to it into the default /var/lib/mpd/music), mpd should be able to play your music once its database has been refreshed (note that recreating the database is necessary after every change to the music directory).
it is good to set the same music dir you used in /etc/mpd.conf in the sonata preferences, too - but it should be able to play music even if the directory is not set.
besides using valid paths and an up-to-date database, you also need to make sure you have the necessary codecs for the format you are trying to play.
also, make sure that the "AUDIO OUTPUT" section of your /etc/mpd.conf is configured correctly (the lines for alsa output should be uncommented by default).
to check whether the problem really is with sonata and not mpd itself, you can always try another client (e.g. like the great ncmpc for the command-line).

[spaceship.rodeo]

My music directories are all good, both with sonata and mpd. And I just checked to see if I had all the dependancies I needed from the guide I linked to in my original post. All my music works in Amarok, so I don't think I need any codecs, unless mpd uses different ones? They're all .mp3s.

But yeah, I'm thinking the problem is with my mpd.conf file, since I tried another client, and it didn't work either. I'll check for the audio output, though.


Edit: My audio ouput was set for Pulseaudio(?), and not Alsa. I did change it to Alsa,though, and still no luck. Maybe I don't have the right codecs?

[dannymichel]

Weird.
I remember this taking a while to create a while back, when i did this.
This (below) happens in a fraction of a second

danny@danny-desktop:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/mpd start-create-db
* Starting Music Player Daemon mpd * creating /home/danny/mpd/tag_cache...
[ OK ]
danny@danny-desktop:~$ mpd -create-db
and there's nothing in the file
my mpd.conf:

# An example configuration file for MPD
# See the mpd.conf man page for a more detailed description of each parameter.


# Files and directories ################################################## #####
#
# This setting controls the top directory which MPD will search to discover the
# available audio files and add them to the daemon's online database. This
# setting defaults to the XDG directory, otherwise the music directory will be
# be disabled and audio files will only be accepted over ipc socket (using
# file:// protocol) or streaming files over an accepted protocol.
#
music_directory "/home/danny/Music"
#
# This setting sets the MPD internal playlist directory. The purpose of this
# directory is storage for playlists created by MPD. The server will use
# playlist files not created by the server but only if they are in the MPD
# format. This setting defaults to playlist saving being disabled.
#
playlist_directory "~/mpd/playlists"
#
# This setting sets the location of the MPD database. This file is used to
# load the database at server start up and store the database while the
# server is not up. This setting defaults to disabled which will allow
# MPD to accept files over ipc socket (using file:// protocol) or streaming
# files over an accepted protocol.
#
db_file "/home/danny/mpd/tag_cache"
#
# These settings are the locations for the daemon log files for the daemon.
# These logs are great for troubleshooting, depending on your log_level
# settings.
#
# The special value "syslog" makes MPD use the local syslog daemon. This
# setting defaults to logging to syslog, otherwise logging is disabled.
#
log_file "/home/danny/mpd/mpd.log"
#
# This setting sets the location of the file which stores the process ID
# for use of mpd --kill and some init scripts. This setting is disabled by
# default and the pid file will not be stored.
#
pid_file "/home/danny/mpd/pid"
#
# This setting sets the location of the file which contains information about
# most variables to get MPD back into the same general shape it was in before
# it was brought down. This setting is disabled by default and the server
# state will be reset on server start up.
#
state_file "/home/danny/mpd/state"
#
################################################## #############################


# General music daemon options ################################################
#
# This setting specifies the user that MPD will run as. MPD should never run as
# root and you may use this setting to make MPD change its user ID after
# initialization. This setting is disabled by default and MPD is run as the
# current user.
#
user "danny"
#
# This setting sets the address for the daemon to listen on. Careful attention
# should be paid if this is assigned to anything other then the default, any.
# This setting can deny access to control of the daemon.
#
# For network
bind_to_address "localhost"
#
# And for Unix Socket
#bind_to_address "/var/run/mpd/socket"
#
# This setting is the TCP port that is desired for the daemon to get assigned
# to.
#
port "6600"
#
# This setting controls the type of information which is logged. Available
# setting arguments are "default", "secure" or "verbose". The "verbose" setting
# argument is recommended for troubleshooting, though can quickly stretch
# available resources on limited hardware storage.
#
#log_level "default"
#
# If you have a problem with your MP3s ending abruptly it is recommended that
# you set this argument to "no" to attempt to fix the problem. If this solves
# the problem, it is highly recommended to fix the MP3 files with vbrfix
# (available from <http://www.willwap.co.uk/Programs/vbrfix.php>), at which
# point gapless MP3 playback can be enabled.
#
#gapless_mp3_playback "yes"
#
# This setting enables MPD to create playlists in a format usable by other
# music players.
#
#save_absolute_paths_in_playlists "no"
#
# This setting defines a list of tag types that will be extracted during the
# audio file discovery process. Optionally, 'comment' can be added to this
# list.
#
#metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer, performer,disc"
#
################################################## #############################


# Symbolic link behavior ################################################## ####
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links outside of the configured music_directory.
#
#follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links inside of the configured music_directory.
#
#follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
#
################################################## #############################


# Zeroconf / Avahi Service Discovery ##########################################
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", service information will be published with
# Zeroconf / Avahi.
#
#zeroconf_enabled "yes"
#
# The argument to this setting will be the Zeroconf / Avahi unique name for
# this MPD server on the network.
#
#zeroconf_name "Music Player"
#
################################################## #############################


# Permissions ################################################## ###############
#
# If this setting is set, MPD will require password authorization. The password
# can setting can be specified multiple times for different password profiles.
#
#password "password@read,add,control,admin"
#
# This setting specifies the permissions a user has who has not yet logged in.
#
#default_permissions "read,add,control,admin"
#
################################################## #############################


# Input ################################################## #####################
#

input {
plugin "curl"
# proxy "proxy.isp.com:8080"
# proxy_user "user"
# proxy_password "password"
}

#
################################################## #############################

# Audio Output ################################################## ##############
#
# MPD supports various audio output types, as well as playing through multiple
# audio outputs at the same time, through multiple audio_output settings
# blocks. Setting this block is optional, though the server will only attempt
# autodetection for one sound card.
#
# See <http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration#Audio_Outputs> for examples of
# other audio outputs.
#
# An example of an ALSA output:
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "My ALSA Device"
device "hw:0,0" # optional
format "44100:16:2" # optional
mixer_device "default" # optional
mixer_control "PCM" # optional
mixer_index "0" # optional
}
#
# An example of an OSS output:
#
#audio_output {
# type "oss"
# name "My OSS Device"
# device "/dev/dsp" # optional
# format "44100:16:2" # optional
# mixer_device "/dev/mixer" # optional
# mixer_control "PCM" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a shout output (for streaming to Icecast):
#
#audio_output {
# type "shout"
# encoding "ogg" # optional
# name "My Shout Stream"
# host "localhost"
# port "8000"
# mount "/mpd.ogg"
# password "hackme"
# quality "5.0"
# bitrate "128"
# format "44100:16:1"
# protocol "icecast2" # optional
# user "source" # optional
# description "My Stream Description" # optional
# genre "jazz" # optional
# public "no" # optional
# timeout "2" # optional
#}
#
# An example of a httpd output (built-in HTTP streaming server):
#
#audio_output {
# type "httpd"
# name "My HTTP Stream"
# encoder "vorbis" # optional, vorbis or lame
# port "8000"
# quality "5.0" # do not define if bitrate is defined
# bitrate "128" # do not define if quality is defined
# format "44100:16:1"
#}
#
# An example of a pulseaudio output (streaming to a remote pulseaudio server)
#
#audio_output {
# type "pulse"
# name "My Pulse Output"
# server "remote_server" # optional
# sink "remote_server_sink" # optional
#}
#
## Example "pipe" output:
#
#audio_output {
# type "pipe"
# name "my pipe"
# command "aplay -f cd 2>/dev/null"
## Or if you're want to use AudioCompress
# command "AudioCompress -m | aplay -f cd 2>/dev/null"
## Or to send raw PCM stream through PCM:
# command "nc example.org 8765"
# format "44100:16:2"
#}
#
## An example of a null output (for no audio output):
#
#audio_output {
# type "null"
# name "My Null Output"
#}
#
# This setting will change all decoded audio to be converted to the specified
# format before being passed to the audio outputs. By default, this setting is
# disabled.
#
#audio_output_format "44100:16:2"
#
# If MPD has been compiled with libsamplerate support, this setting specifies
# the sample rate converter to use. Possible values can be found in the
# mpd.conf man page or the libsamplerate documentation. By default, this is
# setting is disabled.
#
#samplerate_converter "Fastest Sinc Interpolator"
#
################################################## #############################


# Volume control mixer ################################################## ######
#
# These are the global volume control settings. By default, this setting will
# be detected to the available audio output device, with preference going to
# hardware mixing. Hardware and software mixers for individual audio_output
# sections cannot yet be mixed.
#
# An example for controlling an ALSA, OSS or Pulseaudio mixer; If this
# setting is used other sound applications will be affected by the volume
# being controlled by MPD.
#
#mixer_type "hardware"
#
# An example for controlling all mixers through software. This will control
# all controls, even if the mixer is not supported by the device and will not
# affect any other sound producing applications.
#
#mixer_type "software"
#
# This example will not allow MPD to touch the mixer at all and will disable
# all volume controls.
#
#mixer_type "disabled"
#
################################################## #############################


# Normalization automatic volume adjustments ##################################
#
# This setting specifies the type of ReplayGain to use. This setting can have
# the argument "album" or "track". See <http://www.replaygain.org> for more
# details. This setting is disabled by default.
#
#replaygain "album"
#
# This setting sets the pre-amp used for files that have ReplayGain tags. By
# default this setting is disabled.
#
#replaygain_preamp "0"
#
# This setting enables on-the-fly normalization volume adjustment. This will
# result in the volume of all playing audio to be adjusted so the output has
# equal "loudness". This setting is disabled by default.
#
#volume_normalization "no"
#
################################################## #############################


# MPD Internal Buffering ################################################## ####
#
# This setting adjusts the size of internal decoded audio buffering. Changing
# this may have undesired effects. Don't change this if you don't know what you
# are doing.
#
#audio_buffer_size "2048"
#
# This setting controls the percentage of the buffer which is filled before
# beginning to play. Increasing this reduces the chance of audio file skipping,
# at the cost of increased time prior to audio playback.
#
#buffer_before_play "10%"
#
################################################## #############################


# Resource Limitations ################################################## ######
#
# These settings are various limitations to prevent MPD from using too many
# resources. Generally, these settings should be minimized to prevent security
# risks, depending on the operating resources.
#
#connection_timeout "60"
#max_connections "10"
#max_playlist_length "16384"
#max_command_list_size "2048"
#max_output_buffer_size "8192"
#
################################################## #############################


# Character Encoding ################################################## ########
#
# If file or directory names do not display correctly for your locale then you
# may need to modify this setting. After modification of this setting mpd
# --create-db must be run to change the database.
#
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
#
# This setting controls the encoding that ID3v1 tags should be converted from.
#
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
#
################################################## #############################
I have a ~/Music folder, which has links to other folders on other hard-drives in it, and no actual audio files